'He can be quite selfish and inconsiderate sometimes'

Doreen Davis has no interest in politics, goes for days without speaking to David on the phone, and admits that sometimes they don't even share a bedroom. Jenny Colgan finds the would-be Tory leader's wife endearingly honest

Tuesday 15 November 2005 21.00 EST
First published on Tuesday 15 November 2005 21.00 EST

It's hard not to judge politicians by the people they choose to share their life with. Clinton got gravitas from Hillary; Michael Howard undoubted glamour from Sandra; Margaret Thatcher, extremely fortunately, married someone with a sense of humour. But what are we to make of Doreen Davis, wife of Tory leadership hopeful David (he of the "DD" glamour models and "I prefer blondes" comments), who has just given her first interview in the press?

In it, the patently lovely, mumsy (and redheaded) Mrs Davis talks about how they lead essentially separate lives - he in the political thick of it in London, she, on her own, rattling around a remote farmhouse in rural Yorkshire. He will go for days without calling her, and when he is at home, at weekends, he spends all his time at one end of the house either on the phone or watching "a film with a lot of shooting in it", while she gets on with the ironing at the other end.

It is undeniably endearing to listen to a politician's wife say something other than, "Well, of course I'm standing by him" or, "Lonely? Me? Why no, I'm far too involved having a fantastic time dealing with the problems of our wonderful constituents."

Instead, Doreen tells the Daily Mail that David now sometimes sleeps in the spare room. "Life becomes a bit separate because you get used to doing your own thing. There was passion in our marriage to start with, but I suppose some of that goes after 32 years." She does admit that "he likes to have a cuddle - particularly now that he's away so much". All of which is very refreshing after Cherie Blair insisting she and Tony are at it five times a night.

Does Doreen get depressed? She says she throws the odd "wobbly", but mainly because "the hormones are wrong" (she has a degree in molecular biology, so I suppose she knows exactly which hormones those would be).

Doreen clearly lives the life of a practically abandoned wife, dumped in the country with an empty nest, while her husband gets on with the proper "man's business" of politics (something she's never been that interested in).

"He can be quite selfish and inconsiderate sometimes," says Doreen. Well, yes, Doreen. Obviously not everyone wants to be thrust into the media spotlight - and it can't help when your rival, Samantha Cameron, is pregnant, glamorous, an eminently capable carer of a handicapped child, a director of a successful company (Smythsons) and, at night, dons a mask and anonymously solves crime - when you would rather stay at home and get on with the gardening. But there comes a point where a politician's family set-up becomes impossible to ignore.

David Davis is continually making promises about the Conservatives. That they are the party of hope. That they are the party of the future. That he wants to "put women at the heart of the party's operations".

Well, exactly how would you like that to happen, David? Licking stamps in a field somewhere? Or just the ironing? Which would you rather? In a party that only has three more female MPs now than it did in 1932 (it now has 17, or 9% of the parliamentary party), it no longer seems surprising that Davis refused point blank to even contemplate all-women shortlists. No doubt he thinks we poor dears couldn't possibly manage, as we would be too busy cleaning the house and having bad hormones.

If you can basically ignore your wife for 30 years ("He just always has something to do, someone to speak to," she says. "He hasn't got much time for sitting over a meal. He wants to be up doing the next thing"), how on earth can you convince the nation you're a caring, sharing kind of guy, that you give two figs for social justice or a new modern Britain or any of the guff that forms political speechmaking these days?

One worries for the Doreen Davises of this world; making a home, raising their children, missing out on Germaine Greer and Marilyn French, and waking up one day with the children gone and the world a different place.

At least she is unlikely to suffer the fate of a lot of women like her - being left for a younger (and probably careerist) model, especially in the social whirl of a political London full of Kimberly Quinns. After all, DD's a traditional Tory with a family-values image to live up to. And, by all accounts, Davis isn't the type; "He's too straight" (mind you, they said that about John Major).

Still, for all her lonely life so far, at least now her time is her own. Think how utterly insufferable he's going to be when he loses and she has to put up with him every day.